Thursday, December 22, 2016

Have you ever wondered why there is a wide rail in between the regular rails on the SkyTrain network? Well, this is the reaction rail and is part of the unique linear induction motor system used by SkyTrain. I was browsing the dark corners of the transportation-related Internet and discovered a paper called, “Linear Motor Propulsion for Urban Transit” by Kurt Vollenwyder.

Linear induction motor topology. Select image to enlarge.

The SkyTrain was designed in Canada starting in the late 1970s. What made those engineers choose linear induction motors to power the rail rapid transit vehicle of the future?

SkyTrain is an automated system designed for 1980s computers. The linear induction motor design ensured that SkyTrain cars would accelerate and brake without sliding in all-weather conditions. This meant that SkyTrain cars could be deterministically started and stopped.

Linear induction motors also allow SkyTrain cars to operate on high-grades with ease such as the climb from Scott Road to Downtown Surrey, or along North Road.

Speaking about the Evergreen Extension, on Saturday Paul Hillsdon, Rob Bittner, and I decided to check out the most recent section of our rail rapid transit network. At Moody Centre, we discovered Alex Gaio and Aaron Meier who also decided to check out the Evergreen Extension on the same day. We joined forces.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

TransLink is an interesting organization. It delivers some of the highest-quality transportation services in Canada. It is known internationally as a great place to work; I have a good number of friends who are transportation planners that would take a job at TransLink in a heart beat. It has also been audited by the provincial government to “find efficiencies,” yet audit after audit states that “the organization is well run and manages its costs.” Maybe TransLink is a little bit too well run because it has a poor reputation in Metro Vancouver.

Providing transit services is a balancing act between servicing high-demand transit corridors, and providing service that while not efficient serves the greater good. In the quest for efficiency, TransLink skewed a bit to much towards providing high-demand service.

A perfect example would be Gloucester Industrial Estates in the Township of Langley. For years, residents and local politicians have wanted a community shuttle between Gloucester and Aldergrove. Due to the location of Gloucester and its business mix, this would not be an efficient bus route. It would likely cost $400,000 per year or more to provide, and would have low ridership. This is why the agency in the past has refused to provide transit service to this area. The route would serve the greater good of the region though.

TransLink has also done a poor job in general communicating with people in Metro Vancouver. When opponents of the agency railed on about how poor it was, no matter how inaccurate the information, TransLink remained silent. I remember being in a meeting with TransLink senior management in the fall of 2013, and telling them that they had a brand problem. They were dismissive. The failed transit referendum was a wake-up call.

Since Kevin Desmond has become CEO of TransLink, I’ve noticed that the agency has markedly improved when it comes to communication. Desmond used to work for King County Transit where engaging with its riders and the broader community was critical to ensuring funding.

TransLink now does a better job communicating with its customers. When there are delays on SkyTrain, there is an announcement every 30 seconds. With the support of the Mayors’ Council, TransLink now has a new 10-year transportation plan that balances efficiency and the greater good. It has also been more visible. It has press conferences more frequently pointing out what the agency is doing. It has been more transparent and open when things don’t go as planned, allowing the media greater access to information.

Now TransLink it far from perfect, but it is good to see that it is working towards doing a better job of listening to the region, and building credibility.

TransLink recently presented its 2017 Business Plan at an open board meeting. There are three priorities for 2017: ensure its transportation infrastructure is in a good state of repair, implement the new 10-year vision for improving transportation in the region, and improve customer experience & public support for the agency.

In the business plan, TransLink’s objectives under the last priority include: improving TranLink’s reputation, increasing ridership, and empowering its employees to meet its customer services standard and corporate objectives.

When it comes to improving TransLink’s reputation, some of the big initiatives include making enhancements to the Compass Card system, developing and implementing a new customer experience strategy, and developing and implementing a brand strategy.

With new leadership in place, and new funding to improve the transportation network in Metro Vancouver, 2017 will be a big year for TransLink.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

No matter whether federally, provincially, or locally, the list of infrastructure and services that can be provided by government is larger than funding available. One of the difficult choices that elected representatives must make is to prioritize where investments are made.

This is especially true when it comes to our transportation network. In Metro Vancouver, there is the region’s vision as articulated in the Mayors’ Council Regional Transportation Vision. There is also the provincial vision which is focused on freeways and bridges.

Road pricing, such as tolling, is an important tool for funding transportation infrastructure and reducing congestion. While tolling covers some of the cost of transportation infrastructure, every new bridge or kilometre of highway requires an increase in taxpayer subsidy. This is true of some transit investments as well.

Like I said earlier, when it comes to investment decisions and government, it is all about prioritization. It seems that the provincial government has prioritized the Massey Bridge. That wouldn’t have been the decision I made.

Monday, December 19, 2016

The City of Langley has several roads that are highway-sized, yet have traffic levels which could be comfortably handled by a side street. These streets were built in an era where roads like 53rd Avenue were planned to handle traffic volumes similar to the Langley Bypass. This never happened, nor will happen now.

These highway-sized roads create some challenges such as people treating them like speedways, but they also provide tremendous opportunity. 203rd Street is a great example. This highway-sized street has been redesigned with wider sidewalks, protecting bike lanes, parking, and narrower travel lanes which encourage people to keep the speed limit.

With the recent week of snow, it has been interesting to see how people use our roads. I snapped the following pictures last night.

Parallel parking on 201A Street in the snow. Select image to enlarge.

This street is officially parallel parking only, but as you can see, people are angle-parking. The road is so wide that you could support angle-parking on both sides of the street, and still have room for travel lanes. The following picture shows where people actually drive on that road.

Snow on 201A street shows which part of the street is not used for travel. Select image to enlarge.

As you can see by the snow, there are whole sections of the road that aren’t used. This extra space could be used in the future for wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and more parking.

The City of Langley will be replacing the watermain and storm sewer under 56th Avenue between Glover Road and the Langley Bypass. 56th Avenue is a highway-sized street. As the pavement will need to be replaced anyways because of the underground work, it is a good opportunity to rethink the design of this street.

Council heard a presentation from Andria McAulay and Rod Wainwright who are members of the Rotary Club. They talked about the SASSY Awards which is sponsored by the four Rotary Clubs of Langley. SASSY stands for Service Above Self Student Youth. The awards recognize youth aged 15 to 21 who live or study in our community in the following categories: Community Service, Youth Leadership, Sports Leadership, Overcoming Adversity, International Service, Environmental Leadership, and Arts & Culture Leadership. You can find out more about these awards on the SASSY website.

Councillor Albrecht and Councillor van den Broek presented awards to the top entrants in the Magic of Christmas Parade as follows:

Presentation of the Magic of Christmas Parade Awards. Select image to enlarge.

Later during the meeting, council gave first, second, and third reading to bylaw 3002 and bylaw 3010 regarding chauffeur permits.

In the City of Langley if you chauffeur people professionally (ie: a taxi driver), you need a permit. This permit is issued once people who have applied have been vetted by the RCMP. The current bylaw was created before I was born, and was due for an update.

The new bylaws will enable the RCMP to establish guidelines and policies to evaluate whether applicants are fit and proper persons to act as chauffeurs. If a person doesn’t meet the guidelines or policies, they can be denied a permit.

If a person is found to be operating as a professional chauffeur in the City without a permit, the updated bylaws would see an escalating fine starting at $500 for the first offense, increasing to $2,000 for the third offense.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Monday night was the last City of Langley council meeting of the year. Yesterday, I posted about the fire update we received.

One of the things that I hear from Langley City residents is that they want City Hall to continue to get things done that improve the quality of life for people who live, work, and visit our community. As part of moving forward with getting things done, we must evaluate how we do things to see if improvements can be made to help meet our goals.

The City of Langley historically had committees with broad mandates on what they could recommend council to act on. The City also had task groups with specific mandates. These task groups have been highly successful and have included the:

Brydon Lagoon Task Group

Homelessness Action Table

Homelessness Integration Team

Increase the Number of Rent Supplements in Langley Task Group

Support Integrated Intervention Approaches in Housing and Health Task Group

Develop a Sustainable Program to Deter Crime and Target “Crime” Hot Spots Task Group

Both task groups and committees are made up of volunteers from our community.

Parks, recreation, environment, public arts & culture, public safety, and homelessness matters are extremely important to the City. After careful consideration and evaluation, it was determined that task groups with specific mandates were the best way to get things done on these important matters. City council approved changes to our policies to move away from committees to task groups.

Because the “Develop a Sustainable Program to Deter Crime and Target ‘Crime’ Hot Spots Task Group” still has work to be done, the task group’s mandate was renewed. I’m looking forward to other task groups being created to provide specific recommendations to council moving forward.

Council members also sit on over 25 various committees in our communities such as the CPR Railway, Township and City Advisory Panel, Healthier Community Partnerships, and Langley Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Committee. Council approved the list of our appointments to these various committees.

Earlier this year, council asked City staff to update our flag policy to allow the rainbow flag to be flown for 7 days during the summer to show that we acknowledge and respect all people regardless of their colour, race, region, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or mental or physical disability. City council approved an updated flag policy which now enables the rainbow flag to be flown for 7 days during the summer.

Tomorrow, I will post about the remaining items that were on Monday’s council agenda.

Fire Chief Rory Thompson provided council with an update about the Paddington Station apartment fire. Our Fire Rescue Service spent most of yesterday helping residents get back into the building to retrieve essential valuables such as passports and prescriptions. The fourth floor of the building had the most damage due to the roof failure, so about half of the units could be accessed. Today, work will begin to retrieve vehicles out of the underground parking.

The Langley Emergency Program will continue to help people who are still impacted by the fire, and will work with people who don’t have insurance to put them in contact with community service organizations.

Paddington Station is one townhouse building, plus two apartment buildings. The building restoration company got power and the fire alarm system working for the buildings where there was no fire. These systems were integrated between the buildings.

The City of Langley Fire Rescue Service will begin a full investigation of the fire though there are strong indications that the fire started on a fourth-floor patio, and quickly spread to the attic and roof.

The BC Building Code is under the jurisdiction of the provincial government. Chief Thompson noted that a previous version of the BC Building Code required sprinklers on patios, but this was removed. Thompson stated that if there were sprinkler on the patio, the outcome of the fire would have been different. While I can’t speak for all of council, I feel that we will likely be working to lobby the province to get sprinklers in places to prevent a Paddington Station-scale fire from happening again.

Finally, Chief Thompson talked about how Fire crews saved an elderly man on the fourth floor of the building just moments before fire entered his unit. First responders deserve a lot of credit for safely rescuing all the people in the building, and preventing any loss of life.

Langley is a caring community, and many businesses such as the Cascades Casino, Starbucks, Tim Hortons, London Drugs, and Save-On-Foods were ready with food, accommodation, and other essential items to help people impacted by the fire.

If you would like to help people impacted by the fire financially, please call the Gateway of Hope at 604-514-7375. To donate clothing and baby items, please call Zealous Art Studio at 604-533-0490.

*UPDATE* Many organizations that have previously offered to receive physical donations are at capacity. If you would like to assist in this time of need, please email Paddington Station Strata Council at strataplanbcs3568@gmail.com with the subject line: Looking to Support Paddington Station Evacuees.

The Langley Emergency Program setup a reception centre at Douglas Recreation Centre for residents of 5650, 5660 and 5640 201 A Street yesterday. Volunteers are registering residents of these buildings to ensure that they get access to 72-hours of accommodation, meals, clothes, and other essential items.

I was at the reception centre and was told that not only were Fire crews ensuring that people were safe and the fire was contained, but they also worked hard to rescue pets that were trapped in the buildings.

This is the largest emergency in the City of Langley in the last 15 years.

As of the time of this post, evacuees who have not attended the evacuee-only information session last night are encouraged to visit the reception centre in Douglas Recreation Centre at 20550 Douglas Crescent between 8:30am and 4:30pm today. An information session has been scheduled for 12:00pm at Douglas Recreation Centre for evacuees only today.

Langley City is a caring community, and I know that people will want information on how they can help. The City will be gathering information on how people can help. Again, please check out the City’s website for this information over the next few days.

My thoughts and prays are with the people who have be impacted by this fire.

As everyone in Langley City is aware, there has been an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in our community. Over the summer, people were camping in the Nicomekl Floodplain park system. A BC Supreme Court ruling allows camping in parks with certain limitation. Getting people a way out of homelessness is critical. The Gateway of Hope with the help of BC Housing has increased the number of shelter spaces temporally. Of course this is not enough, and more work still needs to be done.

Homelessness related issues had an impact on the bottom line of the City as well this year. The budget for vandalism was $103,125.00 in 2016. It is projected that the City will have spent $192,600.00 on addressing vandalism this year. As a result, council approved $89,500.00 to be taken out of the Enterprise Fund to cover these additional costs. The Enterprise Fund can be used to cover unbudgeted expenses.

The Mayor noted in the meeting that the City is currently working on a protocol or bylaw that could help reduce the amount of abandoned shopping carts in our community.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) petition the government of Canada to establish a comprehensive standard of remediation for residential and commercial properties affected by the cultivation of agriculture and/or the manufacture of drugs, whether legal or illegal, to acceptable health and safety standards for reoccupation by residents and the protection of investors and underwriters.

Council approved forwarding this motion to the conference for debate.

Rick Bomhof provided an update on engineering and parks projects. Bomhof highlighted the following new items since the last update including:

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Yesterday, I posted about a townhouse project that is being proposed along 198th Street near 55th Avenue. Today, I will be focusing on bylaws and reports that were on the agenda at Monday night’s council meeting.

Two of the bylaws that were given first, second, and third reading addressed utility rates for 2017. Metro Vancouver is increasing the rate it charges the City of Langley for water and sewer services. Because of this increase, the City is proposing to adjust the rates it charges for water and sewer services.

For water services, the $50 flat fee remains unchanged while the consumption-based charge will increase to $1.17 per cubic meter. For the average single-family home, this will work out to about a $3.30 increase. For the average strata home, this will work out to about a $1.90 increase over what was paid in 2016.

For sewer services, the $50 flat fee remains unchanged while the usage charge will increase to $1.06 per cubic meter. The increase will also allow the City to be able to fund the replacement of aging sewer infrastructure. For the average single-family home, this will work out to a $21.12 increase. For the average strata home, this will work out to about a $12.16 increase over what was paid in 2016.

An update to the Municipal Ticking Information System bylaw was also giving first, second, and third reading. The is a housekeeping item with the biggest change being the addition of a schedule of fines from our Waterworks Regulation Bylaw.

The City of Langley recently completed an Environmentally Sensitive Areas Mapping Study. The results of the study are proposed to be incorporated into our Official Community Plan. To update the Official Community Plan, consultation with the community is required. Consultation was an important part of the process of creating the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Mapping Study, and a public hearing on updating the Official Community Plan will be schedule near the end of January. At Monday’s meeting, council approved the process to update the Official Community Plan.

The City of Langley is planning to upgrade the underground and above-ground infrastructure along a section of Douglas Crescent. While council already authorized the City to seek federal funding for this project, there was additional work which needed to be included in the project which required a re-authorization by council to seek increased federal funding. Council approved the request.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Last night was the penultimate City of Langley council meeting for the year. As normal, I will be putting up multiple posts about the meeting. Today, I want to focus on a townhouse project that was ultimately approved by council.

The Nicomekl Neighbourhood in the City is transitioning from an area of single-family housing to an area with apartments and townhouses. When a neighbourhood is being redeveloped, there can be growing pains.

Map of area as provide by proponent of the townhouse project. Includes current zoning. Select image to enlarge.

As I observed last night, people were supportive of the design of the townhouse project. People’s concerns were focused around the potential externalities of the new project.

Some residents along 198th Street -between 53rd Avenue and 56th Avenue- expressed concern about the number of people driving along 198th Street, the speed of the vehicles on that street, and on-street parking in the area. These are legitimate concerns that should be addressed.

The proponent of this project held a neighbourhood open house to let people give feedback, and learn about the project. Based on that feedback, the proponent made some design changes to the townhouse project.

In some apartment buildings, large pickup trucks cannot fit into underground parking. Some of these vehicles get parked on-street as a result. The proponent of this project ensured that these larger vehicles would be able to use the provided on-site parking. Many on council, including myself, noted that we may need to review height requirements for underground parking.

To make the intersections around the project safer for all modes for travel, the proponent is adding curb bulges which is a best practice for urban streets. This will also help manage on-street parking. I hope this design can be rolled out to all intersections along 198th Street.

The proponent had a traffic engineering firm do a vehicle traffic count between November 21st and 28th. They also observed the demand for on-street parking in the area twice; once was at 4:30pm, and another was at 8:00pm last month.

They found that there was always an on-street parking spot available at least every 100 meters (one block). Parking along 198th Street is currently not managed. If there wasn’t an available parking spot every block or so, managed parking could be considered in the area. This is not the case yet.

The traffic engineering firm also found that people traveled the speed-limit for the most part along the 198th Street corridor, but didn’t slow down to 30km/h for the playground zone around Brydon Park. While not related to this project, it looks like the City may need to put in traffic calming around that playground area.

198th Street was designed to handle about 10,000 motor vehicles per day. Based on last month’s traffic count, there is an average of 4,000 vehicles per day. During peak travel periods, there is 350 vehicles per hour which is well under the 700 vehicles per hour limit where congestion would occur. That road could handle double the traffic that is on it today.

Based on the information presented at last night’s meeting, I am satisfied that the 198th Street corridor can accommodate future higher-density housing with the caveat that we work towards making safer intersections, keep an eye on on-street parking demand, and put in traffic calming where required.

Monday, December 5, 2016

In October, I posted about some of the design options that were being considered for the replacement Pattullo Bridge. TransLink was seeking public feedback on the design at that time with a focus on cycling and walking connectivity between Surrey and New Westminster.

TransLink has recently released the results of the public consultation in which 2,233 people participated. 60% of participants, a clear majority, supported both improving cycling and walking infrastructure in Surrey and New Westminster, connecting to and along the bridge.

Around 15% of the people who provided written feedback on walking/cycling connectivity noted that they opposed these improvements because there aren’t many people walking or cycling in the area today.

Giving the state of the Pattullo Bridge and surrounding road network, it is no surprise that people only drive. Generally, when improvements are made to make cycling and walking safer and more inviting, more people will walk or cycle.

One of the interesting questions asked about New Westminster walking access was whether people would support grade-level crossings with flashing crosswalk lights, or an overpass at the Royal Avenue On-Ramp. There was clear support for the overpass, and little support for the at-grade crosswalk.

It is interesting to see that about a third of the people who provided written comments on overpasses vs. at-grade crossings, didn’t support at-grade crossings because they “interrupt traffic flow.” There are traffic lights throughout New Westminster and Surrey that interrupt traffic flow, so whether you queue near the bridge or the next light, it likely doesn’t really matter as far as increasing travel time goes.

One thing I know about walking/cycling overpasses is that people will only use them if there are no other options. If there is even the slightest chance of crossing at-grade, people will do that. I hope the design of walking and cycling access for the Pattullo Bridge takes this into account, and reduces the barriers to walking and cycling safely as much as possible.

People who participated in the public consultation process were also giving the opportunity to provide additional feedback. Of all the additional feedback received, only around 30% of people commented about their opposition to tolling.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

It is December 1st today which means that in my household, the Christmas season has officially begun. The Advent Calendar has started counting down, the Christmas tree is up, and festive baking is in progress.

The City of Langley is also getting into the Christmas spirit. If you go around Downtown, you’ll see Christmas lights wrapped around street trees and decorations on street lights. This Saturday, the City is kicking off the countdown to Christmas with two family-friendly events.

Breakfast with Santa. Select poster to enlarge.

At Douglas Recreation Centre this Saturday, you can have Breakfast with Santa between 9:00am and 11:00am. There will be crafts, painting, and breakfast, plus a visit from Santa. Tickets are $10, and children under 3 can attend for free.

Later in the afternoon, come and celebrate the Magic of Christmas. Starting at 4:00pm in McBurney Plaza, check out crafts and live entertainment. At 6:00pm, see the Christmas parade which runs from 56 Avenue to 207 Street. Afterwards, come see the Christmas tree in McBurney Plaza be officially lite at 7pm, and join or listen to caroling in the plaza.

Magic of Christmas. Select poster to enlarge.

It’s Christmas time in Langley, and what better way to celebrate than in our Downtown this Saturday!

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Here you can find presentations, reports, photos, video, and other documents relating to transportation in the South Fraser region of Southern BC and beyond. This site is updated regularly, so check back often.

About Me

I am a Langley City Councillor, and advocate for creating sustainable and accessible communities.
Sustainability to me means building a community that will meet the needs of all who choose to live, work, or establish a business in their community today and into the future. It means building a community where small businesses can succeed, which provides services for all members of the community, and that protects the environment. It also means working hard to ensure that the services which a city provides remain affordable.